Classic Southern Wedding

Kentucky Classic

We love Lauren and Tim's classic wedding. It's full of pretty details and sweet, sweet emotion. There's even a video for y'all to really feel like you were there!

From the bride: My husband and I dated for many years, knowing all the while that one day we’d spend our lives together. After our years of education came to a close, he proposed at Forest Park in St. Louis over Labor Day weekend surrounded by both of our families. Throughout the intense six months of wedding planning, we knew we wanted to keep our Catholic faith and our families central to our big day. We incorporated many of our family members throughout our wedding ceremony, honored them with gifts on our wedding day, and remembered them in our memory table during our reception. We celebrated our wedding with a traditional Catholic Mass at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Lexington. An elegant, Kentucky inspired, reception followed at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington. Horse farms, rock fences, and a beautiful sunset over the rolling bluegrass hills set the backdrop.

Our colors were gold and dusty indigo. These colors were featured in large aspects and in small details throughout the wedding day. Our wedding invitations and other paper items were designed by a friend of the bride. Our floral arrangements were done by DC Blooms in Lexington while our reception flowers were arranged by family and friends. These all contained many of my favorite flowers, anemones, roses, and eucalyptus. With the bridal bouquet tied up with a gold ribbon and family heirloom rosary, these added to the unique romantic look of the day. Our food was catered by Staxx BBQ, Frankfort. Our three tiered wedding cake was displayed on a bourbon barrel, layered with the bride and groom’s favorite flavors, lemon and butter pecan. Events by MJ created The Thoroughbred Center into a masterpiece with his ceiling décor and lighting. Upon entering the reception to “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC, a favorite of the groom, I danced with my grandfather, the groom danced with his mother, and I was surprised with a dance by my mom! Throughout the song, my brother, sister, and grandparents slowly joined in. Before opening up the dance floor, the groom’s uncle led the guests in a traditional Irish wedding song, sung at all family weddings for many years! Guests enjoyed craft beer and Manhattans, the couple’s favorites, while enjoying music by Randy Trent with Clear Pro DJ. We finished the last song while twirling on the dance floor under a tiered chandelier and then exiting with sparklers. The night before the wedding I spent the night with my mother and my bridesmaids at an AirBNB in Lexington, the oldest house in the city, the Morrison Cabin. Staying in such an amazing historic place was just another way we felt connected to our Kentucky history during our wedding weekend.

I loved highlighting so many details throughout our day. Our groomsmen were given reclaimed wood tie bars each engraved with a personalized image or symbol. Our bridesmaids were given monogrammed clutches. I gave my family members, his parents, and Tim handkerchiefs embroidered with personalized messages telling them how much they meant to me. The groom’s father presented him with his late grandfather’s handkerchief to carry. I was presented with a blessed medal to wear inside my wedding dress from Tim’s late grandmother. I wore this medal alongside my Phi Mu sorority pin, borrowed from my Phi Mu little sister/one of my bridesmaids. The groom is a lover of all things craft beer and brought one of his treasured bottles of beer to share with his groomsmen while they got ready at the Morrison Cabin. My Matron of Honor was able to steal me a small pour to sip on as I anxiously awaited putting on my gown while I was hiding upstairs. Tim and I chose to not see each other until I walked down the aisle at the church!

My parents divorced when I was young and for most of my life, my mother’s gorgeous yellow gold, radiant cut diamond ring has been kept in a jewelry box in her bedroom. When we began talking about getting married, my mom graciously offered her once treasured ring to me. After Tim received many of my ideas, he gave her ring a chance at a new love story! He designed by perfect ring with Lee Michaels Jewelers, Ridgeland, Mississippi. My engagement ring features by mom’s center diamond along with many of her smaller accent diamonds. Her original yellow gold was melted down to create all the details featured in my setting. My wedding band was designed to recognize the three wedding vows in the Catholic church and was created with my mother’s original yellow gold. After these two rings were created, a few of mom’s diamonds remained. I had a single bar necklace made with those diamonds for my mom as a gift to give her on our wedding day. She wore this necklace on the wedding day while my little sister wore my mom’s original wedding band. All three of us shared in the new love story of our family heirloom!

My mom and I went wedding dress shopping in Birmingham, Alabama last fall. We scheduled ten appointments on Saturday afternoon trying to find the perfect dress on our short timeline. I have loved and followed wedding dress designer, Heidi Elnora for years and always dreamed of experiencing a dress appointment in her atelier. As soon as we stepped foot inside, my mom exclaimed “Your dress is here! I can feel it”. After trying on multiple beautiful gowns, I fell in love with my perfect dress! A gown that Heidi Elnora named, Ruthie Gail. The design team added custom gold lace accents and straps to tie into the gold accents throughout the wedding. I couldn’t imagine any dress more perfect!

Our wedding hashtag was #MyNewKentuckyNolan, a play on words from My Old Kentucky Home. After living away from my home in Kentucky for ten years, I felt like planning this wedding was the beginning of a journey back home. After our wedding, we moved from across the country back to begin our newest adventure in the place we love the most. A phrase we’ve always loved and we used frequently in our wedding day was “Today begins our greatest adventure." We have been so blessed to begin our greatest adventure together as new Nolans in our Old Kentucky Home.